Thinking Guides to Support Students' Critical Evaluation of Online Information
Presenter: Julie Coiro
Associate Professor, School of Education, University of Rhode Island
SETTING THE CONTEXT (10-15 minutes): This session provides an overview of critical evaluation skills that are important for readers as they interact with a range of online reading sources. After viewing recent research findings about how well adolescents perform on these types of tasks, we will explore several examples of thinking guides designed to scaffold instruction and support learners during the online inquiry process. Then, there will be time to discuss your own concerns and whether or not these types of thinking guides could be useful in your settings.
What are the levels of critical evaluation?
How do adolescents perform on these types of tasks?
80-87% of 7th grade students in our sample of 1,547 students from
two northeastern U.S. were not able to evaluate a website author's
level of expertise, identify the author's point of view, or determine
the overall reliability of information at a website.
How are we measuring adolescents' critical evaluation skills?
What are some ways we can scaffold and support close reading and critical thinking as part of online inquiry?
Coiro, J. (2005). Making sense of online text. Educational Leadership, 63(2), 30-35. [Four strategy lessons to support students as they read search engine results, navigate within websites, evaluate the reliability of websites, and synthesize information without plagiarizing.]
Leu D., Kulikowich, J., Sedransk, N., & Coiro, J. (2009-2014). The ORCA Project: Assessing Online Reading Comprehension includes a detailed explanation of our assessments and video clips of more and less skilled seventh graders as they locate, evaluate, synthesize, and communicate information while completing an assignment. Read more about how ORCA items are aligned with the Common Core State Standards
Thinking Guides to Support Students' Critical Evaluation of Online Information
Presenter: Julie Coiro
Associate Professor, School of Education, University of Rhode Island
SETTING THE CONTEXT (10-15 minutes): This session provides an overview of critical evaluation skills that are important for readers as they interact with a range of online reading sources. After viewing recent research findings about how well adolescents perform on these types of tasks, we will explore several examples of thinking guides designed to scaffold instruction and support learners during the online inquiry process. Then, there will be time to discuss your own concerns and whether or not these types of thinking guides could be useful in your settings.
How do adolescents perform on these types of tasks?
80-87% of 7th grade students in our sample of 1,547 students from
two northeastern U.S. were not able to evaluate a website author's
level of expertise, identify the author's point of view, or determine
the overall reliability of information at a website.
How are we measuring adolescents' critical evaluation skills?
What are some ways we can scaffold and support close reading and critical thinking as part of online inquiry?
Thinking Guide 1: Evaluating Accuracy and Reliability (Verify, Refute, Evaluate, Decide)
Thinking Guide 2: Evaluating Disparate Information Sources (and Comparing to Prior "Knowledge")
Thinking Guide 3: Reading Critically To Negotiate Multiple Perspectives (and Determining where YOU sit)
Thinking Guide 4: Guiding Students' Comprehension of Online Texts ("My Online Reading Plan")
DISCUSS AND SHARE (15 minutes):
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: